The Erie RiverRats open their American Indoor Football Association season Sunday at 4 p.m. at Baltimore. A look around the league:

Continue reading "Around the AIFA" »

The NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional is chock full of storylines. Check out a few them from the newspapers that cover each of the seven teams that will compete with Gannon at the Hammermill Center on Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday for the regional title and a berth in the Elite Eight.

Continue reading "Atlantic Regional storylines" »

A day without the PIAA basketball playoffs does not mean a day without high school basketball.

The National Christian School Athletic Association boys and girls national championships start at noon today at Family First Sports Park. Powerhouse teams and potential Division I recruits from around the country are competing.

Get live broadcasts of select games and tournament brackets and details.

Read on for the day's full schedule of events.

Continue reading "Sports schedule for Thursday, March 12, 2009" »

Mercyhurst College and Gannon each will send three wrestlers into the Division II championships Friday and Saturday in Houston. Check out their path to potential national titles or All-American finishes on this printable bracket.

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The PIAA basketball playoffs continue today with four games featuring District 10 teams, including a Mercyhurst Preparatory School doubleheader at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.

The Mercyhurst Prep girls will play District 10 rival Franklin in the Class AAA second round at 6 p.m. at McComb Fieldhouse. The Lakers boys will play North Catholic at 7:30 p.m in a Class AA second-round game.

The General McLane girls and Cathedral Prep play back-to-back games at Sharon High School.

Read on for the day's full schedule:

Continue reading "Sports schedule for Wednesday, March 11, 2009" »

Meadville plays host to Franklin Regional tonight at 6:30 in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League Class AA playoffs.

Read on for the day's full schedule:

Continue reading "Sports schedule for Monday, March 9, 2009" »

LOCK HAVEN -- Edinboro rode a strong semifinal round to a commanding lead entering the final two sessions of today's Eastern Wrestling League tournament at Lock Haven.

The Scots pushed seven wrestlers into tonight's finals and have all 10 alive in the tournament. Edinboro leads West Virginia in the team race 110-70, all but clinching their seventh straight EWL title and 11th in 12 seasons.

Top-ranked Paul Donahoe and Gregor Gillespie both advanced with lopsided semifinal wins. Donahoe (30-0) recorded a 17-7 major decision over Lock Haven's Nick Hyatt in the 125-pound semis. Gillespie (37-0) beat Pitt's Ryan Goodman 6-0 at 157 pounds.

Joining them in the finals are Ricky Deubel at 133, Jarrod King at 165, Chris Honeycutt at 184, Pat Bradshaw at 197 and heavyweight Joe Fendone.

Bradshaw beat West Virginia's Matt Ryan 9-0 in the semis, avenging a 5-4 loss to Ryan three weeks ago. Fendone beat Pitt's Zach Sheaffer 5-1.

Under the NCAA's new allocation system, Donahoe, Deubel, Gillespie, King and Fendone already have clinched automatic berths to the national tournament, which will be held March 19-21 in St. Louis.

Steve Waite (141), Torsten Gillepsie (149) and John Foley (174) remained alive and will wrestle in the consolation semifinals this afternoon.

Here are tonight's finals matchups for Edinboro wrestlers:

-- 125: Donahoe vs. Jay Ivanco, Clarion.

-- 133: Deubel vs. Jimmy Conroy, Pitt.

-- 157: Gillespie vs. Matt Moley, Bloomsburg.

-- 165: King vs. Donnie Jones, West Virginia.

-- 184: Honeycutt vs. Zac Thomusseit, Pitt.

-- 197: Bradshaw vs. Ben Hepburn, Bloomsburg.

-- Hwt.: Fendone vs. Rashard Goff, Cleveland State.

-- John Dudley

Date, Opponent, Time
Sept. 5, Youngstown State, TBA
Sept. 12, at Buffalo, TBA
Sept. 19, Navy, TBA
Sept. 26, at North Carolina State, TBA
Oct. 2, at Louisville, 8 p.m.
Oct. 10, Connecticut, TBA
Oct. 16, at Rutgers, 8 p.m.
Oct. 24, South Florida, TBA
Nov. 7, Syracuse, TBA
Nov. 14, Notre Dame, TBA
Nov. 27, at West Virginia, TBA
Dec. 5, Cincinnati, TBA

The weekend couldn't be busier. Make your plan of attack with the help of this three-day schedule:

Continue reading "Sports schedule for weekend of March 6-8, 2009" »

Erie native Scott Bayle expected to earn $2,000 to $3,000 from the point fund for winning the 2008 SportMods championship at Lake Erie Speedway. He received $94.50.
That financial snub prompted Bayle to quit racing at LES. He sold his race car in October and his trailer a month ago. “I never expected to get rich (from racing),” he said. “But I never expected to get ripped off.”
LES general manager Branden Kaczay pointed to confusion regarding the point fund policy used by the International Motor Contest Association, the division’s sanctioning body last season.
“It was half our fault and half (IMCA’s) fault,” Kaczay said. NASCAR will sanction SportMods this season, a move Kaczay said should eliminate this problem in the future. NASCAR’s point fund policy is much clearer, he said. The division’s 2009 champion will earn $1,700 to $2,000, he said.
But Kaczay said Bayle didn’t finish 2008 empty-handed. He earned $869.50 for winning the title, including $525 for winning the track title with a crate motor and other contingency bonuses. Yet, that doesn’t make Bayle happier. “I’ve been (racing at LES) for six years,” he said, “and this is what I get.”

* Sharon alters schedule: Sharon Speedway will trim its weekly program to four divisions from five, new general manager Larry Mattingly announced this week. While E-Mods, Pro Stocks and Limited Sprints will race every weekend, Sprints and Modifieds will alternate as the headline class.
“The change is a business decision we had to initiate to remain competitive in the current entertainment marketplace,” he said in a statement. “Given the current economic climate and the uncertain employment numbers in the region, we were faced with some difficult decisions in order to remain viable.”
Track officials considered dropping Sprints or Modifieds from the schedule, Mattingly said, “or dramatically raising spectator admission prices. … Our plan is a compromise that keeps both Sprint Cars and Modifieds racing at Sharon while negating an increase in ticket prices.”

* LES schedule set: Kaczay expects to unveil the 2009 schedule early next week. For now, the Main Event Late Models are the only touring series on the schedule, which runs from May 23 to Sept. 5.
But Kaczay has conducted serious negotiations with the ARCA Lincoln Welders Truck Series. He could add the circuit to the schedule during the season. He nearly signed USARacing, formerly known as USAR Hooter’s Pro Cup Series. Negotiations delayed the schedule’s release date, Kaczay said.
However, the Race of Champions remains off the schedule. Unless he secures the right lineup of NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers, Kaczay likely will keep the ROC off the schedule.
He spoke with Kyle Busch, Clint Bowyer, David Ragan and Joey Logano’s father at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last week. Busch suggested holding the event on a Friday night, since Busch and other high-profile racers compete full time on NASCAR’s Nationwide Series. “There’s nothing wrong with that,” Kaczay said. “We’re not going to rule it out. If they bring it up, it’s more likely to happen.”

* Circling the tracks: Randy Hall, of Olean, N.Y., who races regularly at regional tracks, captured the Alltel All-Star contest’s $10,000 top prize. He received 28 percent of fans’ votes – nearly twice as much as runner-up Jared Landers, of Batesville, Ark. (15 percent). Hall earned a spot on the ballot by winning the UMP Modified feature on Feb. 7 at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla. The race was part of the two-week Alltel DIRTcar Nationals. Waterford’s Dave Hess Jr. won the contest last season. … Lernerville Speedway in Sarver opens the season March 27. Two World of Outlaw Late Model Series events on May 5 and July 19 headline the schedule. ... Tri-City Speedway's season is tentatively set to begin April 26. The two-day World of Outlaws Late Model event on Sept. 5-6 headlines the schedule.

– Victor Fernandes

Check out the Racing Report, the Erie Times-News’ racing notebook, every week and news updates throughout the 2009 season on www.GoErie.com/blogs/sports.

Check out a tournament today.

The College Hockey America women's tournament begins with a 3 p.m. play-in game at Mercyhurst Ice Center, and Family First Sports Park plays host to the annual National Christian School Athletic Association Division 2 and 3 girls and boys championships. Live Webcasts of some games are available.

Listen to or scan results from the PIAA wrestling championships in Hershey.

Read on for the day's full schedule:

Continue reading "Sports schedule for Thursday, March 5, 2009" »

The Erie Otters and Penn State Behrend men's basketball team each can extend their seasons with victories tonight.

The Otters can clinch their first Ontario Hockey League playoff berth since the 2004-05 season by defeating the Owen Sound Attack. The teams play at 7 p.m. at Tullio Arena.

Behrend, meanwhile, plays host to Bethany in an East Coast Athletic Conference Division III South tournament game. The first-round meeting starts at 7 p.m. at the Junker Center, and the winner will move into the semifinals Saturday.

Read on for the day's full schedule:

Continue reading "Sports schedule for Wednesday, March 4, 2009" »

Erie's the place to be tonight for three pressure-packed playoff basketball games.

The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament gets under way at the Hammermill Center at 5:30 p.m. when the Gannon University women, ranked No. 24 in NCAA Division II, take on No. 17 Indiana (Pa.) in a quarterfinal game.

At 7:30 p.m., the No. 6-ranked Gannon men face rival Edinboro looking for a third straight win, with Edinboro's season and Gannon's goal to host the PSAC final four and the NCAA regional at stake.

And at East High School at 7 p.m., the Warriors face St. Marys in a PIAA Class AAA boys play-in game. The winner moves on; the loser's season ends. Check the Varsity blog for updates.

The McDowell boys and Strong Vincent girls basketball teams are on the road for play-in games, while the McDowell hockey team opens the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League Class AAA playoffs against Fox Chapel at 7 p.m. at Tullio Arena.

Read on for the day's full schedule:

Continue reading "Sports schedule for Tuesday, March 3, 2009" »

Two Erie-area college teams are in the schedule spotlight today.

The Edinboro University of Pennsylvania women's lacrosse team plays its first-ever match at 7 p.m. against Converse College in Spartanburg, S.C.

And in Boca Raton, Fla., the Mercyhurst College baseball team faces Winona State at 11 a.m., a day after hitting four home runs in a 10-6 upset of Lynn University, Division II's No. 1-ranked team.

The high schools are off today, but the PIAA basketball and PIHL hockey playoffs begin Tuesday, and the PIAA wrestling championships are Thursday through Saturday in Hershey.

Read on for today's full schedule:

Continue reading "Sports schedule for Monday, March 2, 2009" »

The Pittsburgh Steelers won their sixth Super Bowl last month.

Manchester United has a chance to win five major trophies in one season.

ManU won the English League Cup on Sunday, beating Tottenham 4-1 on penalty kicks after a 0-0 draw through extra time.

Continue reading "Manchester United drives for 5" »